Effect of anesthesia and hypothermia on chicken erythrocyte susceptibility on in vitro peroxidation

Isoflurane is known as an inhalation anesthetic and hypothermia has the potential to cause oxidation stress in chicken erythrocytes. Anesthetized chickens were subjected to cooling by immersion in cold water (10-12 degreesC) from normal colonic temperature of 41 degreesC to 36 degreesC. Lipid peroxidation measured as the level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were determined in anesthetized chicken erythrocytes in hypothermia and posthypothermia before and after in vitro incubation with hydrogen peroxide. The level of TEARS before incubation increased in hypothermia (P < 0.001) although hypothermia without anesthesia might reduce free radical generation (Gradinski-Vrbanac et al., 1999). The concentration of GSH was not changed in hypothermia. The susceptibility of erythrocytes to in vitro peroxidation was increased in anesthetized (P < 0.001) and posthypotermic group (P < 0.001), but not in hypothermia. Erythrocytes from anesthetized and posthypothermic chickens seam to be the least resistant to peroxidative stress induced with hydrogen peroxide. These data show that increased lipid peroxidation in chicken erythrocytes is supposed to occur as a result of oxidative stress caused by anesthesia and hypothermia